just another ex-jazz-musician/proto-rapper/Jersey-Irish-poet-actor/print-junkie/film-raptor/beat-hipster-"white Negro"-rhapsodizer/ex-hippie-punk-'60s-radical-organizer's take on all things cultural, political, spiritual & aggrandizing

Saturday, January 21, 2012

ETTA JAMES R.I.P.

I'm sure you've already heard of her passing. Watching the various network and cable news reports with different recordings of hers in the background brought unexpected tears to my eyes, as I emailed an old friend. Though I always dug her, with her passing I realized I didn't understand before how much her voice meant to me and my life.

I never met her or saw her perform in person that I remember (there are periods of my life and various nights that are lost to me so I can never be certain), but her voice is in my heart, and I suspect yours too, forever, or I guess I mean as long as my heart lasts.